Henry Guinness
Henry Seymour Guinness | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Burton Hall, Stillorgan, County Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | April 4, 1945 (aged 86) |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer, banker, politician |
| Years active | 1880–1934 |
| Known for | Engineering in India; director of Great Northern Railway and Bank of Ireland; Senator of the Irish Free State |
Henry Seymour Guinness (24 November 1858 – 4 April 1945) was an Irish professional known for his contributions in engineering, banking, and politics.
Early life
Guinness was born at Burton Hall in Stillorgan, County Dublin, to Emelina (née Brown) and Henry Guinness (1829–1893), who served as a justice of the peace and managed the Dublin branch of Guinness Mahon bank. His sister, Lucy Madeleine Guinness, became the wife of Philip de László, a distinguished Anglo-Hungarian portrait artist.
On his father's side, his grandfather was Robert Rundell Guinness, the founder of the Guinness Mahon banking institution. His maternal grandfather was James Brown from Edinburgh.
He received his education at Winchester College followed by studies at the Royal Indian Engineering College.
Career
Between 1880 and 1895, Guinness practiced engineering within the Indian Public Works department. Additionally, he held the rank of lieutenant in the Burma State Railway Volunteer Rifles during the Third Anglo-Burmese War. Back in Ireland, he held leadership roles including director of the Great Northern Railway from 1902 to 1924, director at the Bank of Ireland, and assistant managing director at Guinness from 1924 until 1930.
Public life
In 1899, Guinness was appointed Sheriff of County Dublin. He aligned with the Irish Unionist Alliance until its dissolution in 1921. He also represented Irish commercial interests in the Senate of Southern Ireland, although this body was largely ineffective.
During the Irish War of Independence, when local government withheld rates in 1920, he arranged financial support through the Bank of Ireland for the Sinn Féin-led Dublin Corporation. This crucial assistance was later acknowledged by W. T. Cosgrave, who credited both Guinness and Andrew Jameson.
In 1922, he was appointed as an independent senator to the inaugural Irish Free State Senate for a twelve-year term. During his tenure, he promoted reforms in financial regulation and endorsed W. B. Yeats's initiative to translate ancient Irish manuscripts into local languages. He chose not to stand for re-election in 1934.
In collaboration with Brian Guinness, he co-wrote The Guinness Family in 1953, a collection of essays detailing their family history; original copies are preserved at the National Library of Ireland.
Personal life
In 1900, Henry Seymour Guinness married Mary Bainbridge (1871–1954), daughter of Robert Stagg Bainbridge from Keverstone, County Durham. They had four children:
- Moira Emelina Guinness (born 1902), who married Captain Arthur Lafone Frank Hills, OBE, in 1923.
- Rachel Ursula Isolde Guinness (born 1906), who wed Prince John Bryant Digby de Mahé, son of Prince Charles Digby Mahé de Chenal de la Bourdonnais, in 1931.
- Patricia Guinness (1909–2002), spouse of Frederick Charles Leopold Ullstein, descendant of publisher Leopold Ullstein.
- Heather Seymour "Judy" Guinness (1910–1952), an Olympic medal-winning fencer who married twice.
His residence at Burton Hall in Stillorgan was targeted but not destroyed by anti-Treaty republicans during the Irish Civil War in 1923.